Popular Carnival Singer Is Elected President of Haiti in a Landslide

Supporters of Michel Martelly, known as Sweet Micky, celebrated on Monday in Port-au-Prince after the announcement by the electoral commission.Credit
Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — One of Haiti’s most popular entertainers, a provocative Carnival singer previously best known for disrobing and swearing on stage, was elected president in a landslide, according to results announced Monday, placing him at the helm of a nation still struggling to recover from last year’s earthquake, a cholera epidemic and chronic poverty.

The singer, Michel Martelly, 50, known as Sweet Micky or Tet Kale (bald head), won 68 percent of the vote in a runoff election two weeks ago that he nearly did not qualify for.

He defeated Mirlande Manigat, 70, a college professor and former first lady, who won 32 percent of the vote. She had cast herself as a mother figure to soothe Haiti’s ills, in contrast to Mr. Martelly’s image as a rebellious son bent on shaking up the establishment.

When the results were announced at the election commission offices on Monday evening, firecrackers went off outside, hundreds of people ran chanting Mr. Martelly’s name through the streets and people danced in an earthquake tent camp across the street.

If the results hold up, Mr. Martelly will take office in May, after President René Préval, who could not seek another term under the Constitution, steps down. The final results, allowing for a period of appeals, are expected April 16.

Ms. Manigat and the governing party’s candidate, Jude Célestin, won the top two spots in the initial count of that election, qualifying them for the runoff.

But supporters of Mr. Martelly took to the streets crying fraud, igniting days of violence that culminated in an international investigation of the results. After a report by the Organization of American States and pressure from international donors, Haitian officials removed Mr. Célestin from the ballot and replaced him with Mr. Martelly.

Before the runoff, international observers fretted over the arrival of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the popular former president who returned to the country two days before the voting after seven years of exile. They worried that his presence alone could disrupt the election or suppress turnout.

Upon landing, Mr. Aristide said he regretted the exclusion of his party, Fanmi Lavalas, which election authorities had disqualified on a technicality. But otherwise, he has kept a low profile.

Election observers from the Caribbean Community and Organization of American States said the runoff, while far from error- or confusion-free, had proceeded more smoothly than the initial round, and the counting of ballots endured much more scrutiny for fraud and irregularities. That delayed the posting of preliminary results, which had been expected last Thursday.

With tens of thousands of people displaced by the quake still living in camps, only a fraction of the rubble cleared and more than 4,600 killed by cholera since the epidemic began in October, it appears Haitians believed only a political outsider like Mr. Martelly could change the country’s direction.

Photo

United Nations troops from India put on protective gear near posters of Mr. Martelly near the headquarters of the Provision Electoral Council in Petionville on Monday.Credit
Lee Celano/Getty Images

In the campaign, Mr. Martelly eschewed the skirts, underwear and other outlandish outfits of his musical career in favor of tailored suits and talk of reforming education and agriculture, streamlining delivery of humanitarian aid and restoring law and order by restoring the military, disbanded over a decade ago after a history of abuses.

Now he faces the challenge of speeding the rebuilding of a country that, long before the quake, was the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and one of its most unstable politically.

Haiti is heavily reliant on foreign humanitarian aid, dispersed through thousands of nongovernmental organizations that operate in effect as a shadow government. It also relies on United Nations peacekeepers for security.

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Mr. Martelly will have to share power with a prime minister picked by Parliament, where Mr. Préval’s party is strong.

“Whoever the new president is, this presents massive challenges and profoundly circumscribes how much room they will have to maneuver and pursue new projects,” said Laurent Dubois, a Duke University professor who helps direct a team of scholars studying the recovery.

Mr. Martelly, in particular, faces high hurdles, lacking relations with, and in some cases raising suspicions of, power brokers here.

“The outsider status of Martelly has been an important part of his self-presentation as a candidate,” Mr. Dubois said. “The question is whether, and in what ways, this might shape how he governs once in power.”

Both the Haitian government and international donors have acknowledged the slow pace of rebuilding, attributed mainly to bureaucratic delays and a lack of follow-through on pledges. Only about a quarter of the $5.3 billion pledged at a donors’ conference more than a year ago has been delivered.

Vladimir Laguerre contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on April 5, 2011, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Popular Carnival Singer Is Elected President of Haiti in a Landslide. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe